Padder-type apparatus for the continuous application of liquids to permeable materials

ABSTRACT

A padder-type apparatus for the continuous application of liquids to permeable, thick, voluminous web-shaped textile materials which includes support means for the material to be wetted, the support means being capable of being placed under a suction draft at several series disposed narrow suction zones extending over the operating width of the support means and printing stencil means operatively associated with said zones positioned on the side facing the material conveyed across these zones for applying said liquids thereto.

United States Patent [1 1 Fleissner [111 3,890,811 [451 June 24, 1975154] PADDER-TYPE APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS APPLICATION OF LIQUIDS TOPERMEABLE MATERIALS [75] Inventor: I'Ians Fleissner, Egelsbach nearFrankfurt am Main, Germany [73] Assignee: Vepa AG, Switzerland [22]Filed: Sept. 10, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 395,441

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 9, 1972 Germany 2244272[52] U.S. CI. 68/200; 68/DIG. 5; 101/119; 1 18/213 [51] Int. Cl. B050l/10 [58] Field of Search 68/200, 202, 203, DIG. 5, 68/205 R; 118/213,230; 101/116, 119, 120;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 776,197 11/1904 Nistle34/122 1,625,054 4/1927 Rosato lOl/ll6 2,080,635 5/1937 Schramek et a1.68/205 R 3,033,702 5/1962 Fenselam, 118/213 X 3,099,146 7/1963 Yamawaki68/203 3,779,047 12/ 1973 Fleissner 68/DIG. 5

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 578,399 6/1933 Germany 34/122 PrimaryExaminer-Harvey C. Hornsby Assistant ExaminerPhilip R. Coe Attorney,Agent, or Firm-Craig & Antonelli [57] ABSTRACT A padder-type apparatusfor the continuous application of liquids to permeable, thick,voluminous webshaped textile materials which includes support means forthe material to be wetted, the support means being capable of beingplaced under a suction draft at several series disposed narrow suctionzones extending over the operating width of the support means andprinting stencil means operatively associated with said zones positionedon the side facing the material conveyed across these zones for applyingsaid liquids thereto.

6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEI] JUN 24 I975 SHEET PADDER T fiQAiARAT S FOR THE CONTINUOUS. APPLICATION O LIQUIDS T PERMEABLE MATERIALSThis invention relates to a padder-type printing apparatus for thecontinuous application of liquids to permeable', preferablythick,voluminous web-shaped materials, such as tufted carpets and needled-feltcarpets, or the like, which apparatus comprises a support, such as sievedrums, for the material to be wetted, which support can be placed undera suction draft at a plurality of narrow zones and a plurality ofprinting means associated with said zone.

In the textile field it is known that a padder consists of a trough withguide rolls, containing a liquid, the material'to be wetted being guidedthrough this trough and then being mangled by means of a pair'ofpressure rolls until the desired degree of moisture is obtained. If itis intended to wet only the surface of the material, rather than tosaturate the materialwith afliquid, then the liquid can also be sprayedonto thematerial. In this connection, various color effects can also beobtained with different color hues. It-is only-difficult'to apply thesprays of color, particularly in case -of thick, voluminous materials,so that the pile is =thoroughly dyed through its entire t hickness. Itis known from German Offenlegungsshrift 1,635,104 to eliminate thisproblem by placing thematerial under a suction draft during the sprayapplication of the treatment agent. Thus, the suction draft 'iseffective on the backside of the material to be dyed, while the materialis sprayed, for example, on the'topside. r s i In general, colorpatterns are producedby means of the cylinder printing process. Theapparatus necessary for this purpose consists of sieve drums which areused as stencils or templates for the pattern to be imprinted. One colordoctor is provided within each of the sieve drums for squeezing the dyethrough the openings in the stencil onto the material to be imprinted.It is quite. clear that this dye penetrating through the openings wetsonly the surface of the web-shaped material, which results, in case ofplushes and voluminous carpets, in an only partial dyeing of the pile.

Therefore, the invention is based on the problem of developing anapparatus ensuring a thorough dyeing of thick pile even when employingthe printing method.

The thus-posed problem is solved, in an apparatus of this invention, byplacing the support on which the material is transported at severalnarrow zones extending over the operating width and arranged in series,under a suction draft; these zones are coupled with printing stencils,e.g. printing cylinders on the face side of the material conveyed overthese zones for applying a colored liquid, e.g. a dye thereto.Preferably, these stencils are arranged at the beginning of each of thesuction zones, in order to provide sufficient time over the subsequentsuction zone for wetting the pile down to the roots, i.e. the base ofthe materials.

Another advantage of this apparatus is based on the fact that thematerial, during the printing step, is firmly held on the support. Thus,the material cannot move relatively to the printing stencils during theprinting operation. As a consequence, the color patterns produced bydifferent cylinders are well superimposed. The coincidence of thepattern is more accurate.

Consequently, in one embodiment of the apparatus according to thisinvention, the provision is made that an inner cover within the sievedrum, forming a suction slot or slots, is at least partiallygas-permeable in a zone covered by the material. Thereby, the materialis constantly held firmly on the support, i.e. the sieve drum, even ifthe material is not directly under the effect of a printing stencil, ortravels over a suction slot. This constructional detail is important formaterials which are particularly sensitive to tension, such as, forexample, hosiery or knitted carpets. I-Ieretofore, such materials wereglued to a rubber sheet; for this purpose, a binder must first beapplied to this sheet, and after the printing step must again be removedfrom the rubber sheet. The consumption of water and adhesives can beavoided by this invention. The material is held, during the conveyanceover the printing apparatus, from the beginning to theend uniformlyfirmly and fixedly on the drum and is provided with the dye in the zoneof the suction slots, where a more intense suction draft is effective. I

The suction draft can be adjustable to be of different strengths at theinner cover in the zone covered by the material, in order to adapt thissuction draft to the material to be treated in each particular case. Forthis reason, the inner cover could consist, in the zone covered by thematerial, of two perforated metal sheets or the like extending inparallel to each other, one of which can be displaced in order to coverthe perforations of the other sheet.

In the accompanying drawings various embodiments of the apparatus ofthis invention are illustrated, to wit:

FIG. 1 shows a color applicator apparatus in the form of a sieve drumunder a suction draft in front of a festoon steamer;

FIG. 2 shows the apparatus of FIG. 1 with a modification in theuniversal covering of the sieve drum; and

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged fragmentary view of the sieve drum shell in thezone of a printing stencil.

In front of the festoon steamer 1, a padder-type printing apparatus inthe form of a cylinder printing apparatus 2 is illustrated, consistingof a sieve drain 3 under a suction draft associated at its end face witha fan 4. On the inside of the sieve drum, cover sheets are provided, ofwhich the one designated by reference numeral 5 covers the zone notoccupied by the textile material 6 to be printed, and the onesdesignated by reference numeral 7 leave vacant narrow suction slots 8extending over the operating width of the drum. Above or at thebeginning of the suction zones provided by these suction slots 8,respectively, one printing stencil is illustrated which, in theembodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, consists of a printing cylinder 9 with acolor doctor disposed therein and, in the example of FIG. 3, is aprinting cylinder 9 with a coating blade arranged therein. The numer ofstencils corresponds to the respectively desired printing pattern.

By the suction draft produced by the fan 4, which must be adjusted to bevery high, due to the relatively minor effective suction surface on thesieve drum 3, the dye applied by the stencil to the surface of thefibrous textile material 6 is sucked with great force to the root of thepile of the material. A flawless dyeing effect throughout the materialis thus ensured.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3, the cover sheets 7 are fashioned tobe gas-permeable, by making them perforated in a similar manner as thesieve drum 3. In this way, a holding force is effective on the materialnot only in the zone of the suction slots 8, formed between the coversheets, but also in the entirety of the zone of the sieve drum coveredby the material. This has the advantage that also materials sensitive totension can be perfectly well printed. In order to be able to adapt thesuction draft effective in the zone of the cover 7 to the respectivematerial 6, the cover according to FIG. 3 consists of twoparallel-disposed cover sheets 10 and 11, which can be displacedmutually according to the arrow 12. Thus, the amount of air passingthrough the sheet 10 can be varied with the aid of the sheet 11 toincrease or decrease the flow area available.

While the novel embodiments of the invention have been described, itwill be understood that various omissions, modifications and changes inthese embodiments may be made by one skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What we claim is:

l. A padder-type apparatus for the continuous application of liquid topermeable, thick voluminous, webshaped materials including tuftedcarpets and needledfelt carpets, plush and the like textile material,said apparatus comprising at least one sieve drum means having agas-permeable surface with an operating width for supporting and forconveying the material to be wetted with said liquid, said sieve drummeans having an interior placed under a suction draft and means withinsaid interior for defining a plurality of series-disposed, narrow,suction zones extending across the operating width of said sieve drummeans, and a plurality of printing stencil means each operativelyassociated with one of said suction zones positioned on one side of thematerial conveyed across said zones for applying said liquid thereto,whereby said liquid is drawn into the material by an intense suctiondraft applied at said suction zones.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, in which each of the printing stencil meansis arranged to apply said liquid onto said material as the materialinitially passes over the associated suction zone.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, in which said means defining said narrowsuction zones comprises cover sheet means providing vacant slots formingsaid suction zones extending across the operating width of the sievedrum means and providing sheet portions extending between said slots.said sheet portions being at least partially gas-permeable in a regionof the sieve drum means covered by the textile material whereby apartial suction draft sufficient to hold said textile material againstsaid gas-permeable surface is provided.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, in which said sieve drum means is alsoprovided with another cover sheet means which is not gas-permeable andwhich extends over a region of the sieve drum means free of contact withsaid material.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, in which the sheet portions of the coversheet means in the region of the sieve drum means covered by thematerial consists of two perforated metal sheets extending in parallelto each other, one of said sheets being displaceable in order to varythe amount of suction draft, by covering the perforations of the othersheet.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, in which said interior of said sieve drummeans also includes means for applying a suction draft to portions ofthe material being conveyed on said gas-permeable surface, less intensethan the suction draft applied to the material overlying those portionsof the gas-permeable surface superjacent to said suction zones, saidless intense suction draft being sufficient to retain said material onsaid gas-permeable surface.

1. A padder-type apparatus for the continuous application of liquid topermeable, thick voluminous, web-shaped materials including tuftedcarpets and needled-felt carpets, plush and the like textile material,said apparatus comprising at least one sieve drum means having agas-permeable surface with an operating width for supporting and forconveying the material to be wetted with said liquid, said sieve drummeans having an interior placed under a suction draft and means withinsaid interior for defining a plurality of series-disposed, narrow,suction zones extending across the operating width of said sieve drummeans, and a plurality of printing stencil means each operativelyassociated with one of said suction zones positioned on one side of thematerial conveyed across said zones for applying said liquid thereto,whereby said liquid is drawn into the material by an intense suctiondraft applied at said suction zones.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, inwhich each of the printing stencil means is arranged to apply saidliquid onto said material as the material initially passes over theassociated suction zone.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, in which saidmeans defining said narrow suction zones comprises cover sheet meansproviding vacant slots forming said suction zones extending across theoperating width of the sieve drum means and providing sheet portionsextending between said slots, said sheet portions being at leastpartially gas-permeable in a region of the sieve drum means covered bythe textile material whereby a partial suction draft sufficient to holdsaid textile material against said gas-permeable surface is provided. 4.The apparatus of claim 3, in which said sieve drum means is alsoprovided with another cover sheet means which is not gas-permeable andwhich extends over a region of the sieve drum means free of contact withsaid material.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3, in which the sheet portionsof the cover sheet means in the region of the sieve drum means coveredby the material consists of two perforated metal sheets extending inparallel to each other, one of said sheets being displaceable in orderto vary the amount of suction draft, by covering the perforations of theother sheet.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, in which said interior of saidsieve drum means also includes means for applying a suction draft toportions of the material being conveyed on said gas-permeable surface,less intense than the suction draft applied to the material overlyingthose portions of the gas-permeable surface superjacent to said suctionzones, said less intense suction draft being sufficient to retain saidmaterial on said gas-permeable surface.